PHOENIX -- Late Friday, New York City Marathon officials announced they were canceling Sunday's race.

Thirty-thousand people were expected to run the race, which would have gone through all five hurricane-ravaged boroughs. Dozens of runners from the Valley flew to New York Friday to prepare for Sunday's race.

Susan Loken trained 30 Arizona runners for the past few months to run the marathon. The group landed in New York Friday afternoon, and an hour later, they found out their race would not be held.

"We're all here and we paid to get here. We raised thousands for charity to run this race. People donated to us and we wanted to say: We made it to New York and made a difference," Loken told 3TV.

Most runners told us they have mixed feelings about the cancellation. They understood the reasons, but criticized city officials for waiting until Friday to cancel the race.

"I would've rather them cancel it earlier. But it is what it is, and we're here, so we'll try to see a bit of New York and try to help them out if we can," Phoenix runner Bob Miller said.

Others were more upset.

"I hate to admit it, but I feel ripped-off in a sense," said Rosanna Roasa. "Why have us all show up if the cancellation is due to scarce resources? We're here now."

"I came here feeling like I was going to spend money and support the city in any way I could. I wasn't going to use public transportation; I planned to walk everywhere," Roasa added.

Several of the Arizona runners say they hope to help cleanup efforts this weekend along what was supposed to be their marathon race route.